Violin bridge



April 5, 1927. M. RA O I VIOLIN BRIDGE Filed Dec. 6, "1924 Patented Apr.5, 1927.

uui'ren STATES ALBERTO M. ALVARADO, OF DURANGO, MEXICO.

VIOLIN BRIDGE.

Application filed December 8, 1924. Serial No. 75%,631.

This invention relates to attachments for stringed instruments,particularly to bridges, and has vtor its object the provision of anovel bridge designed primarily for use as an auxiliary to the ordinarybridge employed with violin or other stringed instrument, the auxiliarybridge being located adjacent the ordinary bridge and acting to improvethe quality of the music inasmuch as it will give the tones of theinstrument a greater legree o't sweetness, volume and clearne Animportant object is the provision of an auxiliary bridge of thischaracter which is so constructed and arranged as to be used inconjunction with the ordinary bridge and mounted in slightly spacedrelation thereto, the auxiliary bridge itself being of peculiarconstruction whereby to have the desired eiiect upon. the tones.

An additional object is the provision of a device of this characterwhich will be simple and inexpensive in manufacture, positive in action,el'licient and durable in service, and a general improvement in the art.

l Vith the above and other objects and advantages in view, the inventionconsists in the details ot construction to be hereinafter more fullydescribed and claimed and illustratcd in the accompanying drawings, in

which Figure 1 is a plan view oi a violin cipiipped with my auxiliarybridge, and

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the invention alone.

Re'l'erring more particularly to the drawings, the letter A designatesan ordinary violin having the usual body or sounding board li. neck (l,tail piece D, strings E, cminccted with the tail piece and with theusual tuning keys l or pegs as they may be called, while the letter Grepresents the ordh nary l "ridge over which the strings pass. In

carrying out the present invention I proto ride an auxiliary bridgedevice designated broadly by the numeral 10. which bridge is ofsubstantially the same size and shape as the ordinary bridge G andconstructed of the usual material, ordinarily wood. At its lower edgethis auxiliary bridge 10 is cut away as indicated at 11 to providebearing feet 12 engaging upon the sounding board of the violin, and atpoints spaced inwardly from the side edges the auxiliary bridge is iii 0formed with curved openings 13 with which communicate elongated slots 14opening out at the edges. At the center of the upper portion, there ispreferably provided a curved opening 15 as clearly indicated.

One of the essential features in the construction of this auxiliarybridge is the formation of a pair of grooves 16 which lead upwardlyi'roin the opening 13 and which gradually increase in width as theyprogress iufnvardly, these grooves extending substantially one half thethickness of the body of the bridge as clearly indicated. The topsurface ot this auxiliary bridge is formed with a plurality of notches17 similar to those provided in the ordinary bridge and designed for thepurpose of having the strings E engaged therein. The auxiliary bridge isengaged upon the sounding board of the violin at a point spaced slightlyfrom the ordinary bridge B which forms part of the original equipmentand it will be apparent that the strings will be supported at twoslightly spaced points. In actual practice I have discovered that byemployment of this auxiliary bridge the quality of the tone produced bythe instrument is greatly improved especially in points of sweetness andclearness. The thinning away of the material resulting itrom theformation of the groove renders the bridge more sensitive to thevibrations of the strings and these vibrations are consequentlytransmitted to the body or soundingboard ot the instrun'ient in a moreintense manner than is ordinarily the case so that the tones producedwill be clearer than is ordinarily possible.

From the foregoing description and a study of the drawings it will beapparent that I have thus provided a very simply constructed and inex78DSlV6 device or attachment for the purpose specified which willefliciently perform all, the functions For which it is intended.

lVhile l have shown and described the preferred embodiment of theinvention, it should be understood that I reserve the right to make suchchanges in the form, construe-- tion and arrangen'ient of parts as willnot depart from the spirit of the invention or the scope of thesubjoined claim.

Having thus described the invention, I claim:

A,,v violin bridge comprising a flat body having its lower edge providedWith feet and having its intermediate portion formed with openingslocated near the sides and formed with slots leading from said openingsout to the side edges, the body having a flat face formed with a pair ofgrooves extending from the openings to the upper edge at points near thecorners, the resultant thinning away of the material by the provision ofthe grooves providing sensitiveness for facilitating transmission ofvibrations. In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

ALBERTO M. ALVARADO.

